It wasn't an elimination game, but it felt like
one. Perched precariously on the ledge, the Sharks needed to beat the Phoenix
Coyotes on Thursday night to fend off their division foes from taking their
playoff spot. Not only did they lose, but San Jose couldn't even muster any
scoring against the Coyotes. Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith stopped all 38 shots
the Sharks threw his way en route to a 2-0 shutout victory. With the blanking,
Smith became the first goaltender to shutout the Sharks three times in a
season.

With the loss, the Sharks fell to the 9th position in the
Western Conference. If the season ended today, the team that's qualified for
the Conference Finals the last two seasons would be out of the playoffs. The
thought of missing the playoffs seems almost unfathomable given the success the
Sharks have enjoyed the last decade.

When San Jose acquired Brent
Burns last summer, the acquisition was supposed to be the missing piece in a
lineup that had fallen one series short of the Stanley Cup finals in
back-to-back seasons. Burns started what may have been the play that drew the
Sharks one game closer to a summer vacation in the 3rd period, when he pinched
on an offensive chance that backfired.

Burns got caught when Joe
Pavelski's shot was blocked, which led to the Coyotes 2nd goal of the evening.
It was more offense then the Coyotes needed, but it essentially broke the
Sharks back. Radium Vrabata deposited hi s 32nd goal of the season on the back
end of a 3-on-1 break after Pavelski's disastrous shot attempt.

Vrbata
converted on a power play 4 minutes into the 2nd period after Patrick Marleau
was sent off for a boarding penalty. Vrbata was the beneficiary of a Ray
Whitney shot that hit Antti Niemi and trickled to the left of the crease for an
easy deposit. Phoenix took all of 20 seconds to convert the power play into the
game winning goal.

San Jose's healthy shot total consisted of lots of
long range shots that Smith simply had to collect. A lack of any net presence
throughout the evening was the tell tale sign that it was going to be a long
game for the Sharks.

Even with the man-advantage, San Jose took no
initiative. A Martin Hanzel hooking penalty in the 2nd period gave the Sharks
an opportunity to draw even with Phoenix, but San Jose could only muster a
43-foot wrist shot that barely got Smith's attention.

Smith didn't need to make any big saves, because there
was nary a shot that came close to beating him. When he did give up a rebound,
an absence of Sharks sweaters in front of the Coyotes goal created little
threat for the Phoenix defensive corps.

The loss leaves only 4 games
left to climb back into a playoff spot, but games like Thursday's debacle
provides little confidence that they would be able to do much should they
qualify for the NHL's second season.

Game Notes:

Sharks
defenseman Douglas Murray did not play after he sustained an undisclosed injury
in Anaheim on Wednesday night.

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